Raleigh Little Theatre Announces Auditions for OUR TOWN, 2/22-2/23

Raleigh Little Theatre is holding auditions for Own Town by Thornton Wilder. The production will be directed by Haskell Fitz-Simons and will be presented in the Cantey V. Sutton Theatre.

Auditions: February 22 & 23, RLT Main Stage at 7:30 PM

Call Backs: February 27 @ 11:00 AM
First Rehearsal: March 1
Tech Rehearsal: April 3 
Production Dates: April 9-25

About the show

Our Town by American playwright Thornton Wilder is set in the fictional community of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. Typically performed with a minimalist, bare-stage setting, with mimed props, Wilder uses the character of the Stage Manager to create the town of Grover's Corners for the audience. Scenes from its history between the years of 1901 and 1913 play out.

Our Town is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives (particularly George Gibbs, a doctor's son, and Emily Webb, the daughter of the town's newspaper editor). Our Town's New York City debut was on 4 February 1938 at Henry Miller's Theatre, and later moved to the Morosco Theatre. In early 2009 a celebrated production opened at the Barrow Street Theatre, Off-Broadway in New York. This amazing production was still running as of this writing.

Our Town features a large ensemble cast (17-25 actors). 

About the roles

Stage Manager: The most important character in the play has no name and little importance in the story's action. But he has the longest part with more speeches than any other character, and is always on the stage. Some critics have commented that he is like the omniscient narrator encountered in fiction. Often it appears that he simply chats with the audience, dispensing folksy wisdom and sounding like the embodiment of common sense.

In classical Greek theater, the chorus served an important function. As a group of neutral observers, the chorus commented on the play's action and advised the audience how they should respond to the events of the drama. The nineteenth century's fascination with representing "reality" on the stage did away with the use of asides (comments made by stage performers that are intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters). Wilder returns to that convention and uses the Stage Manager as a chorus figure to halt the action, intervene in the story, move back and forth in time, and make it clear that the representation on the stage is not "reality' in the naturalistic sense.

In addition to his duties as the "chorus," the Stage Manager also plays prim Mrs. Forest, old-fashioned and conservative Mr. Morgan, and the solemn minister.

Dr. Frank Gibbs: Frank Gibbs is a loving father and a kind husband. He knows just about everything about everybody in town, and he is perfectly content to live his life in Grover's Corners. Although there are differences that distinguish him from the character of Charles Webb, the two characters share similar roles and functions in the play.

George Gibbs: George Gibbs is the All-American boy, or, more appropriately, what some people think of as the typical boy-nice and polite, but not very good at book and school learning; loving, but not very good at expressing those emotions; and perfectly happy to stay on The Farm.

George is sincere, though just a bit tongue-tied when it comes to telling Emily that he loves her in Act Two. He is not a rebel and he doesn't want to change the world. He just wants to fall in love, marry, and live happily until "death do us part." And, even though the living happily part didn't last as long as he wanted it to, that's exactly what happens to George and Emily. In Act Three, George doesn't utter a single word, but, when he throws himself on Emily's grave, his actions speak volumes.

Julia Hersey Gibbs: Mrs. Gibbs, a wife and a mother, can be viewed as interchangeable with the character of Myrtle Webb. Each worries about her husband and her children. Each seems content with life in Grover's Corners, although Mrs. Gibbs does express a desire to take the money received by selling an antique piece of furniture and convince her husband to take a vacation to Paris, instead of their usual excursion to visit Civil War battlefields. But, instead, she holds onto the money and leaves it in her will to the married George and Emily, who use the funds to improve The Farm.

Rebecca Gibbs: Rebecca is the younger sister of George Gibbs. She is presented, with Wally Webb, as a child squabbling with an older sibling in the family scenes, especially in Act One. The Stage Manager informs the audience in Act Three that Rebecca has married and moved to Ohio.

Charles Webb: Like the character of Dr. Frank Gibbs, Charles Webb is a loving father and a kind husband with a sense of humor that survives the strain of their children's marriage. While each man has some interest that differentiates him from the other (Civil War battlefields for Doc Gibbs; Napoleon for Editor Webb), the speeches delivered by these two could be spoken by the other without any loss of importance.

Emily Webb: Emily Webb might be called "the All-American girl." She is bright, articulate, and, despite the anxiety she shares with her mother, a beautiful creature. She is the focus of the action of the play. In Act One, Emily is the naive schoolgirl, in Act Two, the maturing young woman, and in Act Three, the mother who has died in childbirth. It is through Emily that time of the play can be tracked. Emily exhibits emotions that are familiar to the audience. From the unsure adolescent looking at the moonlight to the bride with a moment of last-minute panic on her wedding day, the audience connects with these feelings. It is also through Emily that Wilder presents his central life-affirming idea-"Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.'

Myrtle Webb: Myrtle Webb and Julia Hersey Gibbs, like their husbands, are two characters that can be viewed as virtually interchangeable. Content with life in Grover's Corners, each is a wife and a mother whose life focuses on her husband and her children.

Wally Webb: As the younger brother of Emily Webb, Wally is seen throughout the play as child squabbling with his older sibling, especially in Act One. In this, his character is a parallel to that of Rebecca Gibbs. At the beginning of Act Three, the Stage Manager informs the audience that Wally Webb, who died of a ruptured appendix on a camping trip, is one of those in the cemetery.

Constable Warren: There seems to be little in the way of crime in Grover's Corners, so Constable Warren has to watch over the safety of the townspeople. He rescues a man who has fallen drunk into a snowbank and tries to make sure that the young boys, like Wally Webb, don't start smoking. He also ensures, when Simon Stimson is wandering around town at night, drunk, that he gets home safely.

Sam Craig: Like the Crowell brothers and Howie Newsome, Sam Craig and Joe Stoddard bring news, but instead of bringing news of life, they bring news of death. Through them the audience learns of recent deaths and how they have affected the town.

Joe Crowell & Si Crowell: Joe Crowell and his brother Si, are the town's newspaper boys. They are up early making their rounds before the town wakens. As the play progresses, the Stage Manager reveals that Joe was bright, but died in France during World War I. Neither one has a positive opinion of marriage; Si and his Grover's Corners teammates lose "the best baseball pitcher Grover's Corners ever had" when George Gibbs decides to marry Emily Webb and settle down to farming.

Howie Newsome: Howie Newsome, the milkman, is one of the town's early risers. A friendly and chatty man, Howie delivers the local gossip with his milk and cream every morning to the residents of Grover's Corners.

Louella Soames: Mrs. Soames is the town chatterbox. She always has something to say, even when she's dead. It is Mrs. Soames who reveals Simon Stimson's drinking problem, and it is Mrs. Soames who gushes about the wedding. In death, it is Mrs. Soames who observes that life was both awful and wonderful.

Simon Stimson: Stimson is the church organist who has a drinking problem and is the focus of much of the gossip of Graver's Corners. The conversation between the undertaker and Emily's cousin reveals that Stimson committed suicide and, instead of a epitaph on his grave stone, there are just notes of music. Stimson is the only character in the play who is truly unhappy. Other characters, such as Doc Gibbs, refer to Stimson's sorrows in general terms but never indicate specifically what they are. Even in death, Simon Stimson is a bitter man. (It would be wonderful-but not necessary-- if this actor could actually play the piano!!!)

Joe Stoddard: Like the Crowell brothers and Howie Newsome, Joe Stoddard and Sam Craig bring news, but instead of bringing news of life, they bring news of death. It is through them that the audience learns of recent deaths and how they have affected the town.

Cameo roles:

In addition there are a number of smaller cameos that double as citizens of Grovers Gorners

Professor Willard: Elderly Academic from the State University who gives Geological/ Anthropological lecture on the background of Grover's Corners and environs. Actor will become a citizen...

Woman In Balcony
Man at Back of Auditorium
Artistic Lady

These 3 are "plants" in the audience for a Q & A session with the Stage Manager in Act One ...Classic Thornton Wilder! They will go on to become citizens in Act's Two and Three.

Three Baseball Players - friends of George Gibbs
Dead Man
Dead Woman
Mr. Carter
Farmer McCarthy

Also, there should be around five or six young people (Boys and Girls) who are classmates and friends of the Gibbs and Webb children.

About the production team

Our Town will be directed by RLT's Artistic Director, Haskell Fitz-Simons.

About the auditions

Auditions will consist of readings from the script.

In addition, actors will be given the opportunity to present a 2-3 minute monologue. This is not necessary, but it will allow actors to show the Director a piece of PREPARED work. 

For more information on auditions, and to download an audition form, visit http://raleighlittletheatre.org/auditions/information/owntown.html

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